Editorial: A right royal fuss

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with baby George. Photo/File

It's incredible the amount of fuss generated by British media over advance publicity for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's visit to New Zealand.

Papers this week quoted former Metropolitan Police head of royal protection Dai Davies saying he was "appalled" by tweets and notifications of the family's engagements.

Department of Internal Affairs staff have used the official social media channels of Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae to tell New Zealanders where they will be able to see the young family during the visit, which starts next Monday.

Information includes locations, times and the best place to catch a glimpse, as well as maps of the routes they will take when meeting the public in various cities and town centres.

The Daily Mirror called the information a "gift to terrorists" in its headline, and the Daily Mail said it was a "manual for terrorists" that could leave the couple at risk of an attack.

While it's easy to rubbish the idea of terrorism on New Zealand soil, and it's an idea that has been easily rubbished before, you have to ask if Mr Davies might have a point.

There's no need for him to rail against "the idiocy of the idiot who would publish this far in advance both route and location" in such a fashion, but perhaps a shorter lead-in to events would have made more sense.

That said, isn't the public seeing the royal family the whole point of the visit? Why would they bother coming Downunder only to keep their schedule under wraps until the last minute?

Tour organisers are quite right to assume royals fans will want to make plans to see the family, and making plans requires a decent amount of notice.

We could live in a world where no risk is too small, where terror lurks in every corner, but if we buy into that fear then, as they say, the terrorists have won.